There is ongoing interest in developing and deploying mobile networks that may facilitate transfer of information at broadband bandwidth and rates. These networks are colloquially referred to herein as broadband wireless access (BWA) networks and may include networks operating in conformance with one or more protocols specified by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and its derivatives or the Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) 802.16 standards (e.g., IEEE 802.16-2005) although the embodiments discussed herein are not necessarily so limited. IEEE 802.16 compliant BWA networks are sometimes referred to as WiMAX networks, an acronym that stands for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, which is a certification mark for products that pass conformity and interoperability tests for the IEEE 802.16 standards
Service providers have been looking for a technology that enables convergence of the service layer, such that value-add services, which can be easily deployed. To fill this gap, the mobile industry (more specifically the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP)) has created a comprehensive all-IP network named Internet Protocol (IP) Multimedia Subsystem (IMS). The promise of convergence by IMS is being weighed against its complexity both on the network side and the client device side. This has led the industry to question suitability of IMS as a convergence technology of choice.
In modeling the deployment and implementation of WiMAX networks, there are ongoing questions on how to best integrate cooperation between service providers (SPs), which are the providers that operate network infrastructure and provide wireless access to subscribers, and Internet Application Service providers (IASPS) (e.g., GOOGLE®, YAHOO®, etc.), which are providers that offer aggregated content on the public Internet Protocol (IP) networks including content providers (CPs) and/or Internet advertisers (IAs).
USI is a simple yet effective architecture to address the very requirements IMS failed to fulfill. The proposed architecture, named Universal Services Interface (USI) is a simple, flexible, Internet friendly solution that enables service provider to sell value-add services by simple interfacing to content providers.
A strong need exists for techniques for USI when the users are on a VPN.
It will be appreciated that for simplicity and clarity of illustration, elements illustrated in the figures have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements are exaggerated relative to other elements for clarity. Further, where considered appropriate, reference numerals have been repeated among the figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements.